Institute for Biomedical Ethics, University of Basel, Switzerland.
Institute of History and Ethics in Medicine, School of Social Sciences, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Germany.
Scand J Public Health. 2024 May;52(3):253-261. doi: 10.1177/14034948231195388. Epub 2023 Aug 30.
Because media portrayal reflects and shapes public opinion and health policy, investigating news coverage of public health issues is highly relevant for public health research and practice. Addressing a topical issue, this study investigated how newspaper coverage framed COVID-19 vaccines in Austria and German-speaking Switzerland and how it developed over time.
A quantitative newspaper content analysis of six newspapers from Austria and German-speaking Switzerland published between January 1 and 31, 2022 was conducted. Frames were identified for each country separately through hierarchical cluster analysis (Ward's method) based on frame elements.
Four frames were identified in both countries: (1) Evaluating new vaccines, (2) Discussing mandates, (3) Promoting vaccination, (4) Mentioning vaccines. In Frames 1 (Switzerland 86.4%, Austria 93.3%) and 3 (Switzerland 92.7%, Austria 98.9%), most articles included vaccine-endorsing statements, with Swiss coverage including additional negative statements more often than Austrian coverage (43.2%/44.6% vs 4.0%/3.3%). Frame 2 was closely linked to vaccine skepticism only in Austria and contained more evaluative statements in Austrian newspapers (25.4% endorsing, 35.4% rejecting; in Switzerland 14.5%/18.1%). The Austrian tabloid published most articles (497/1091, 45.6%).
The commercialized and comparatively high share of tabloid news coverage in Austria may have contributed to oversimplified and polarizing COVID-19 vaccine debates in this context. Insufficiently balanced and adequate information may contribute to a loss of public trust in vaccination and may therefore affect vaccination uptake. Authorities and public health professionals should consider this effect when designing information campaigns.
由于媒体的描绘反映和塑造了公众舆论和卫生政策，因此调查公众健康问题的新闻报道与公共卫生研究和实践密切相关。本研究针对一个热门话题，调查了奥地利和德语区瑞士的报纸如何报道 COVID-19 疫苗，以及这种报道随时间的变化趋势。
对奥地利和德语区瑞士的六家报纸在 2022 年 1 月 1 日至 31 日期间发表的文章进行了定量报纸内容分析。通过基于框架元素的层次聚类分析（Ward 法），为每个国家分别确定框架。
在两个国家都确定了四个框架：（1）评估新疫苗，（2）讨论授权，（3）促进疫苗接种，（4）提及疫苗。在框架 1（瑞士 86.4%，奥地利 93.3%）和 3（瑞士 92.7%，奥地利 98.9%）中，大多数文章都包含对疫苗的支持声明，而瑞士的报道比奥地利的报道更经常包含额外的负面声明（43.2%/44.6%对比 4.0%/3.3%）。框架 2 仅在奥地利与疫苗怀疑论密切相关，并且奥地利报纸中的评估性言论更多（25.4%支持，35.4%反对；在瑞士为 14.5%/18.1%）。奥地利小报《 Kronen Zeitung》发表的文章最多（497/1091，45.6%）。
奥地利商业化程度高，报纸中低俗新闻的比例相对较高，这可能导致在这种情况下，对 COVID-19 疫苗的辩论过于简单化和两极化。信息不足和不平衡可能会导致公众对疫苗接种失去信任，并因此影响疫苗接种率。当局和公共卫生专业人员在设计信息宣传活动时应考虑到这种影响。
